Improving the schooling chances of NZ's poorest children: policy and community changes

Social Justice in Education Symposium

Te Whanau o Tupuranga/Clover Park Middle School

3 Sept 2010




JEFF DUNCAN-ANDRADE

What teachers can learn from great coaches.



1 Develop your philosophy about the game
  • buying into the philosophy wins championships
  • "one best system"
  • be dynamic and be Socratic


2 Establish clear objectives
  • What is it you wan to do this term/this year?
  • "You can be good at a lot of things, but you can great at a few," John Wooden

  • who am I accountable to? Tension between the MOE and your comunity. He suggests the two don't go together.
  • 5 step research process: Identify, Analyse, Plan, Implement, Evaluate


3 Pedagogy (content and delivery)a zone of proximal development: ZPD (Vygotsky)b organic intellecutalismc critical praxisd critical double consciousnesse counter-cultural community of practice - counter to the culture of failure and mediocrity
  • Health and wellness are pre-conditions for learning
  • Young people need the ability to speak/act as a collective.
  • They need the confidence to act on their own in a moment - this is agency. They needs to be able to act for themselves - unplanned and spontaneous. They can use their confidence in their lives appropriately.
4 Create structures that focus on discipline and objectives- See John Wooden's Pyramid of Success below - it's not the outcome, but the journey. And it's about knowing you have done your best. external image John-Wooden-Pyramid.jpg"I treat everyone differently, under the same set of rules," Coach Wooden.
  • Wayne Yang, 2009, pg 55: "discipline over punishment" - inclusionary vs exclusionary. "rigorous mental training .. towards a common goal."
  • Teaching as an apprenticeship (link back to ZPD)
  • Aim to develop a cimmunity of risk taking, setbacks and difficulty.
5 Get buy in into your system
  • "a game of inches" - take opportunites, make choices, fight for those inches, ask who will go the inches with you?
6 Read and react7 Developing generalists and specialists - classrooms as communites of practice
  • Some kids have star qualities - identify them and create opportunities for those learners to shine. They need individual polish.
  • The toughest game is the last game - build up to peak performance at the end of the school year, don't slacken off at the end of the school year.
8 Colleagues and community
  • That is, beyond your classroom.
  • The power of influence.
9 Stay ahead or get behind
  • "Don't be sorry be better."
  • Teacher reflection groups
  • Stdeunt focus groups
  • Teacher research, presentations and publications
  • Conference attendance
10 Battle - To battle is to hope
  • All day every day.
  • Hope = medical definition "a control of destiny"
  • Hope was the last thing in Pandora's Box


David Stovall, University of Illinois, Chicago

Block Biz: Engaging the Politics of Truth-Telling in Chicago


  • geographical boundaries - engaging the block
  • willingness, capacity, ability = I wonder how capacity and ability are different?
  • hostile environments
  • justics should be determined by those who have experienced injustice
  • restrictive covenants in Chicago - certain ethnic groups could only buy houses in certain areas
  • the Daley fiefdom - current mayor of Chicago has served about 25 years and he is the son of a previous mayor who also served about 25 years.
  • the White population are moving to the edges of the cities - cf location of NZ's new schools and their decile
  • David teachers at the Lawndale Little Village School of Social Justice. Its core principles are:
truth and transparency
struggle and sacrifice
ownership and agency
collective and community power
  • 3 types of knowledge
1 classical - the national curriculum. David suggests this is the last thing you are trying to do. Consider what skills for what purpose.
2 community
3 critical
  • To create a revolutionary change: time, space and will - with the will, you will create the time and space



Sam Chapman

The Awhi Way


'We want to change, but we don't know how.'
The power of influence.
Change is uncomfortable so we settle